The steel approached him. Reflecting what little moonlight able to pierce the cloud to his eyes, blinding him.
Time slowed down as the blade got closer and closer to him. Everything in this world, every particle in the air, every motion was slowing down. His mind cleared, he knew what to do. He just have to move a little bit to the right to save him from the certain doom, and after that he jumped to the right more, grabbed Elis and pulled both of them to safety.
Yet, it was only his mind that cleared. His nerve was too slow to do anything to the blade that approached him. All that thinking and all that planning in his head was for naught, nothing but his brain last attempt to save itself.
He shut his eyes tight. Waiting and hoping that his death would be a quick and painless death, but it never came.
The sound of metal clashing made him open his eyes. The dagger was stopped by a sword with a long handle, no, it stopped by a spear. A familiar spear with a cross stabilizer, the spear of Troy.
“Hector?” Rein was surprised.
“Heya kid, Let me handle this one. Help your spirit there and take care of those on top of those building.” He pushed Rashid back and took a stance. “Go!”
Rein psuhed his body up and caught Elis body. He dragged Elis to take cover behind a wall on the rooftops.
‘Damn! She’s heavy!’ he thought.
He heard a gunshot, but the source was from a building behind the rooftops they’re in, not from the apartment roof. The shot itself seemed to be directed at the apartment roof. The bullet directed right to the woman standing in the top of the apartment. Before the bullet could even get near her, it disintegrated. Rein couldn’t see that well, but he knew who it was that helped them. There was only one logical conclusion to who it was if Hector was there, Herman.
“Elis, patch yourself up and deal with those on the roof!”
She held the wound and it shone with purple light. The wound gradually getting smaller. “I’m sorry master i-”
“Just focus on you wound Elis. Sorry can come later.”
“Yes... master.” Not long after that, when Elis almost completely healed , she stood up. The clothes she wore transformed into her usual apparel. “TIi’ll be going master.”
“Be careful Elis.” He said. She nodded with a smile on her face.
Bat wing sprouted from her back and she took off, but it was more appropriate to say that she was hovering up rather than flying. Magic bullet rained down on her, but without the need to protect her master, it was easy for her to block the enemy attack. She flew to the top of the apartment and was greeted by a woman in an expensive looking black gown. The man in black from before was nowhere to be seen.
“Where is that man?” She asked.
“Oh my! A servant that doesn’t understand manner. We should introduce ourselves first when we first met.” The woman answered with a sly smile on her face.
“I don’t have time for your joke woman!” Elis replied.
The smile widen on the woman face. The sky behind Elis suddenly darken, wall of shadow wrapped the entire apartment. Noticing the trap, Elis fired several magic bolt at her only for her to counter it with the exact same attack.
‘Mage territory?’ Elis thought.
“Then allow me teach you some manner servant! I am Semiramis, The great queen of Assyria!”
----
Throwing dagger littered around his feet. He stopped the spinning spear in his hand and held it upright. Even at disadvantaged position, his enemy didn’t lose composure.
No matter how good Rashid was, he was still an Assassin after all, not suited for frontal combat. He knew that he had no chance if he faced the great hero of Troy in a fair battle. Rashid assessed Hector, from his movement to his combat style, trying to look for any flaw Hector might have that he could exploit. Unbeknown to him, Hector was the one who exploited his weakness.
“That’s seven already. Don’t tell me you have more of those dagger, it’s useless i tell you.” Hector said.
“Hector of Troy… it would be better if you don’t underestimate me.” Rashid replied.
Hector was surprised that his enemy replied to what he said. So far, no matter what he said, his enemy didn’t seems to listen or have any will to answer. He smiled, something he said must have flipped his enemy switch or something, forcing him to reply.
“Old man of the mountain, Rashid Ad-din Sinan. My partner told me who you are. He said that you’re one of the best among Hashasin. Maybe even surpassing the legendary Hasan-I-Sabbah, but if your skill is only like this… i’m disappointed.” Hector observed his enemy without missing anything. Rashid finger twitched slightly. ‘Look like a prideful person to me. I can exploit this.’ He thought.
Hector spun his spear around in his right hand then passed it to his left. He spun it in front of his body, in his back, on top of his head, trying to show off.
“You think you can get pass this spear of mine?” He provoked. “I bet you can’t even see it!”
He was trying his best to move his spear faster and faster, but he failed on one of his try. The spear spun too fast for him to catch with his right hand and fell to the ground.
Rashid noticed the opportunity and seized it. He dashed right at Hector, aiming his dagger right at his heart.
Hector grinned, he never thought that his ruse would work so well. He raised his feet and kicked the falling spear upward to his hand. Using his superior speed, He grabbed the spear and slashed at his dashing enemy. Rashid realized his mistake, but he was too slow to back away. Blood gushed out from his stomach, soaking his white cloak. He jumped back a few time, creating a huge gap between himself and his enemy.
“I didn’t think that would go so well.” Hector said with a smile on his face.
“You will this, Hector of Troy!” Rashid crossed both of his arm in front of his chest. His palm facing to the sky. “Al-Layl Al-Abadiya.” He whispered.
The ground turned dark, and shadow burst forth from it.
Hector turned his head to look at Rein. Once Hector found him, he kicked the ground to get near him with his full speed, disappearing and appearing next to him. Rein was surprised by Hector, he was too fast for his eyes to caught.
“RAISE YOUR ARM!” He yelled. Rein raised his arm in reflex.
Hector suddenly kicked him, sending his body off the edge of the roof. Just after Hector kicked Rein out of the way, wall of darkness bursted upward, creating a huge dome. Numbness assault his senses, and his vision blurred.
‘Poison?’ He thought, but after a while, the numbness was gone. ‘No, it's something else.’
His vision still blurred, like the whole area was covered by thick black mist. In front of him stood a pitch black wall. He tried to push it, nothing happen. He slashed, stabbed, kicked, and punched, but the wall stood still undisturbed. “A powerful territory, or something else entirely.”
Rashid was nowhere to be seen, and his vision worsen by the second. The place was dark and filled with black mist that hindered his eyesight, but it wasn’t just that. It started from just blurred vision, but it was getting darker and darker until he couldn’t see at all.
He walked while holding his spear with both hand, readying it any moment Rashid might attack. Inside there was complete silence with his footsteps and breathing the only sound he could hear. The wall completely blocked any sound from the outside coming in, and possibly any sound coming out.
He noticed something, the more he walked, the fainter his footsteps and breathing became. He slashed the air with his spear, creating a whistling sound in the air, but what he heard was only a faint sound. He shouted. Again, he only heard a faint sound. ‘So it's not my breath, I’m losing my hearing.’
Justa minute after that, his hearing became useless, he couldn’t hear anymore. Two of his senses had been taken away from him.
His gut told him that someone was closing in on him. He slashed at that direction, but he didn’t feel flesh or blood in his blade. He only slashed a thin air. He missed, and he was injured. He felt pain on his lower abdomen and it was bleeding. ‘Knife wound… the fact that he didn’t not kill me mean that my slash was on point, and hindered his attack…. Still, fighting like this is a pain in the ass.’ He complained in his mind.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Rein grabbed the edge of the roof at the last moment, saving himself from falling five stories onto his demise down below. He used all of his muscle strength to pull himself up.
‘Damn it! I didn’t do all those pull up for nothing!’ He thought. He struggled to get up and his muscle began aching. Pulling his body up was one thing, but actually getting to the roof again was another matter. He made it. “Hector! What the heck?!” Hector did not answer, nor does Rein need his question to be answered after what he saw when he got back up on the roof.
A huge black dome covered the roof, leaving only a few space open. Hector and Rashid nowhere to be seen. He touched and pushed the black wall, but was pushed back by some force.
“HECTOR!” Someone called. Herman jumped from one roof to another while calling Hector. On one hand he carried a sniper rifle,and on the other was some kind of binocular. He wore a black military that blend well with the night. “God dammit! I told you to not be reckless!” He punched the black dome. He turned to face Rein. “You! Where is your spirit?”
“Uh.. Elis she’s up there.” Rein pointed to the apartment rooftops.
He turned to look to the apartment roof where Elis was fighting. The apartment roof was covered by the same pitch black dome.
“I was to careless.” He spoke to himself. “Shit!” He placed the binocular on his belt and took out a scanner.
SKILL
Hiding: A+
Rashid is a true master at hiding. Even in broad daylight and using a white cloak, it is almost impossible to find him unless he revealed himself.
Presence Obscurity: A+
Rashid presence is completely undetectable until he's about to attack. His action is also silent.
SIGNATURE POWER
AL-LAYL AL-ABADIA
Rank: B+
Type: Territory
Al-layl Al-abadia, everlasting night. Rashid create a territory, anyone who caught inside, be it friend or foe other than Rashid himself will gradually lose all of their senses. Starting with their sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Anyone caught inside for too long will start to become delusional and lose their mind.
-----
Elis held her hand together. Her white skin covered by blood coming out from all gthe wound in her body. Her breathing rough and ragged.
Beside her, multiple dead bodies laid on the floor. Those poor soul were the inhabitant of the apartment who checked what was happening on the rooftops, only to found themselve blown to pieces by Semiramis and Elis magic the moment they stepped to the roof.
“I’m disappointed. I was expecting much more from an A+ ranked mage, not to mention you can instant cast your spell, but i guess you’re nothing.” Semiramis commented on her condition. “I wonder why?”
From their parameter and their skill, Elis supposed to have the upper hand even when her power was reduced, but the territory Semiramis made wasn’t a normal territory. It increased her power multiple fold and decreased Elis power. Inside her own territory even a simple fireball from Semiramis was enough to match with Elis high ranked fireball.
“Tell me, o great queen of Assyria. The territory you created, it’s not a normal territory right?” Elis asked.
“Keen observation. A normal territory is unbefitting a great queen like me. This is an isolated space rather than a territory. No matter what you do here there is no hope of contacting the outside world, someone from outside can’t help you.”
Wide grin appeared on Elis face. Instead of despairing, she found a new hope in her answer. “HAHAHAHA! Good! Good! I was hesitant to use my signature and show my ugly form to master, after all.. I still want to taste that young body of his. If that is the case then there is no problem.” Elis spoke to herself. Her smile widen to an impossible size, showing a row of shark-like teeth.
Elis raised her arm, her body hovered to the air. Her hair enveloped her whole body to form something like a cocoon.
Semiramis was confused and intrigued. She waited for Elis to finish what ever she was doing, for no matter what she does, there was no way Elis could hope to defeat Semiramis in her own territory.
Elis cocoon bursted in blood. What came out of it was not what Semiramis had in mind, nor does she ever imagined that she would saw something like that. Something out of imagination, something out of horror story.
The beautiful woman was no more. Instead, a floating black goat heads came out. The goat had six eyes on each of its three head. Four horn protruded from the main head while two from each of the lesser head. A pentagram of blood covered the main head forehead. The goat head was huge, the length of one of its horn alone was as long as a fully grown man.
Upon closer inspection of the head, there were countless small eyes and mouth scattered all around its skin. The head themselve was made of a huge amount of hair like substance.
“What are you?” Semiramis asked, her eyes wide open in shock.
A hole opened in the goat forehead, right in the middle of the pentagram. The hole released a huge amount of blood and from it emerged a familiar face of the woman Elis
“Let me pay you your due respect o great queen of Assyria by telling you our name.” Multiple snake-like tentacle sprouted from the side of the goat head. On the end of each of those tentacle was a face, all of them looked the same as the one in the forehead. All of those face stared at Semiramis.
“We have many name.” One of the face said.
“Many have been lost in time and forgotten.” Another one continued.
“Many have been claimed by others.”
“Many have changed.”
“Few remained.”
All the face turned silent and main goat face opened its mouth. A deep and ominous voice came out. “We are The Black Goat of in the wood with a Thousand Young!”
Semiramis opened her palm and in an instant scanned the thing in front of her.
Name:
Shub-Niggur (Emeralis)
Master:
Rein Constantine
Class:
Mage
Subclass:
Necromancer, Elementalist, Arcanist.
Original location:
?
Spirit Rank
A++(A+)
Parameter
Health
?
Mana
?
Strength
D
Magical power
A+
Agility
B
Luck
B
Endurance
C
Signature power
A+
Physical Resistance
C
Magical Resistance
A
SKILL
Instant cast: B
Able to cast B ranked magic or lower without incantation, but Mana cost is doubled.
Quick Cast : A Able to cast A ranked magic or lower at incredible speed Mind of Madness: B Inherent ability of an Eldritch horror. Anyone who get near the presence of Shub-Niggur will slowly lose their sanity and anyone who gaze upon her true form will lose it at an even faster rate.
Signature power
Release True Form
Rank: -
Type: Limiter Removal
Transform Elis into her true form of Shub-Niggur, the black goat. Increase all parameter by a certain degree. Add a certain skill and unlock hidden Signature power. No matter how powerful one scanning spell or skill is, it is impossible to discern Shub-Niggur true nature unless she revealed it herself.
Necronomicon
Rank: A+
Type: Grimoire
The grimoire of Shub-Niggur in the form of book. Made of human flesh and hair. An ancient language detailing every spell she knew was written in blood inside this book. Could be given to others so that they can use her spell, but it is useless now, for no one other than her in modern age could read what is inside anymore.
“Shub-Niggur...To think that an Eldritch horror would answer the call of a human... Interesting.” Semiramis replied. Her face filled with intrigue and curiosity.